Andre Meier (born 3 March 1965) is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internati ...

former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

during the 1980s and 1990s.

Football career

Meier began his career with his local club FC Baden, joining their first team during their 1984–85 season and at the end of the season Meier won promotion with them. Meier played the

1985–86 Nationalliga A Statistics of Swiss National League A in the 1985–86 football season. Overview It was contested by 16 teams, and BSC Young Boys won the championship. League standings Results References Sources Switzerland 1985–86 at RSSSF {{DEF ...

season with Baden, appearing in 27 of the 30 games, but at the end of the season they suffered relegation. Meier signed a two-year contract with

FC Schaffhausen FC Schaffhausen is a Swiss football team from the town of Schaffhausen. The club plays in the Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. Honours League Swiss Challenge League *Winners: 1962-63, 2003–04 Cup Swiss Cup *Runners-up: ...

during the summer of 1996 and played with them for two seasons. He then had a short spell at

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss football club based in Aarau. They play in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was formed on 26 May 1902 by workers from a local ...

in the first tier of Swiss football, before he returned to Schaffhausen for another three seasons. In 1992 he moved to

FC Chiasso FC Chiasso is a Swiss football club based in Chiasso. It was founded in 1905. Chiasso also played in the Italian first league between 1914 and 1923. The team's most glorious period was between 1948 and 1961, when the team was promoted to the ...

, who were fighting against relegation from the Nationalliga A. However, they were unsuccessful in their attempt and so Meier moved on. Meier joined

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, a ...

for their 1993–94 season under head-coach Claude Andrey. After playing in six test games Meier played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the

St. Jakob Stadium The St. Jakob Stadium was a football stadium in Basel, Switzerland and the former home of Swiss club FC Basel. It was built in view of the 1954 FIFA World Cup, and as well as serving as a club stadium, it hosted several important matches, inc ...

on 28 July 1993 as Basel were defeated 1–2 by

Old Boys The terms Old Boys and Old Girls are the usual expressions in use in the United Kingdom for former pupils of primary and secondary schools.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While these are traditionally associated with independent schools, they are ...

. During this season his teammates were the likes of Swiss international goalkeeper

Stefan Huber Stefan Huber (born 14 June 1966) is a Swiss former footballer who played as a goalkeeper during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. Club career Huber played his youth football by local club FC Unterstrass. He then moved to Grasshopper Club and be ...

, defenders

Massimo Ceccaroni Massimo Ceccaroni (born 15 August 1968) is a retired Swiss- Italian footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. He played for FC Basel for very nearly his entire career. He was later trainer at amateur club BSC Old Boys and then trai ...

Marco Walker Marco Walker (born 2 May 1970) is a Swiss football manager and a former international who played as a defender during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Club career Walker started his youth football with local club FC Bellach. From 1983 with he was w ...

and

Samir Tabakovic Samir (variantly spelled Sameer) is a male name found commonly in the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. In Arabic, Samir () means holy, jovial, loyal or charming. In Albanian, it translates literally as “so good” but the connotation is clo ...

, the midfielders

Mario Cantaluppi Mario "Lupo" Cantaluppi (born 11 April 1974) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. Club career Born in Schlieren, Switzerland, Mario Cantaluppi started his professional career with Grasshopper Club Z� ...

Martin Jeitziner Martin Jeitziner (born 13 January 1963) is a retired Swiss football midfielder who played in the 1980s and 1990s. Football career Jeitziner played his youth football with FC Basel and advanced to their first team during their 1980–81 season u ...

, Admir Smajić and

Ørjan Berg Ørjan Berg (born 20 August 1968) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the current sporting director of Bodø/Glimt. Berg retired at the end of the 2006 season, having played for Bodø/Glimt, Wett ...

and the Swiss international striker

Dario Zuffi Dario Zuffi (born 7 December 1964) is a Swiss football coach and former international player. He is currently employed as assistant coach for FC Winterthur. Career Playing career Zuffi played his youth football with the local Winterthur team F ...

. Together they won the promotion/relegation group and as Nationalliga B champions thus won promotion to the top flight of Swiss football, after six seasons in the second tier. After the promotion he stayed with the club for another two seasons and during this time Meier played a total of 138 games for Basel without scoring a goal. 83 of these games were in the Nationalliga B or Nationalliga A, 12 in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference ...

, four in the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International F ...

and 39 were friendly games. He returned for one season to

during the summer of 1996, played one more season with FC Baden and then moved onto SC Kriens for the 1998–1999. He played only three matches in the entire season, so retired from his professional career and moved on to play for FC Fislisbach at amateur level.

References

Sources

* Rotblau: Jahrbuch Saison 2017/2018. Publisher: FC Basel Marketing AG. * Die ersten 125 Jahre. Publisher: Josef Zindel im Friedrich Reinhardt Verlag, Basel.
Verein "Basler Fussballarchiv" Homepage

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meier, Andre 1965 births Living people Swiss men's footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Baden players FC Schaffhausen players FC Aarau players FC Chiasso players FC Basel players Swiss Challenge League players Swiss Super League players People from Baden, Switzerland Footballers from Aargau